The imperfect tense - Easy Learning Grammar German

What is the imperfect tense?The imperfect tense is one of the verb tenses used to talk about the past, especially in descriptions, and to say what used to happen, for example, It was sunny at the weekend; I used to walk to school.

1Using the imperfect tense

The German imperfect tense is used:

to describe actions in the past which the speaker feels have no link with the present

Er kam zu spät, um teilnehmen zu können.

He arrived too late to take part.

to describe what things were like and how people felt in the past

Ich war ganz traurig, als sie wegging.

I was very sad when she left.

Damals gab es ein großes Problem mit Drogen.

There was a big problem with drugs at that time.

to say what used to happen or what you used to do regularly in the past

Wir machten jeden Tag einen Spaziergang.

We used to go for a walk every day.

Samstags spielte ich Tennis.

I used to play tennis on Saturdays.

Note that if you want to talk about an event or action that took place and was completed in the past, you normally use the perfect tense in German conversation. The imperfect tense is normally used in written German.

TipRemember that you NEVER use the verb sein to translate was or were in forms like was raining or were looking and so on. You change the German verb ending instead.

2Forming the imperfect tense of weak verbs

To form the imperfect tense of weak verbs, you use the same stem of the verb as for the present tense. Then you add the correct ending, depending on whether you are referring to ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie or Sie.

Pronoun

Ending

Add to Stem, e.g. spiel-

Meanings

ich

-te

ich spielte

I playedI was playing

du

-test

du spieltest

you playedyou were playing

ersiees

-te

er spieltesie spieltees spielte

he/she/it playedhe/she/it was playing

wir

-ten

wir spielten

we playedwe were playing

ihr

-tet

ihr spieltet

you (plural) playedyou were playing

sie

Sie

-ten

sie spieltenSie spielten

they playedthey were playingyou (polite) playedyou were playing

Sie holte ihn jeden Tag von der Arbeit ab.

She picked him up from work every day.

Normalerweise machte ich nach dem Abendessen meine Hausaufgaben.

I usually did my homework after dinner.

As with the present tense, some weak verbs change their spellings slightly when they are used in the imperfect tense.

If the stem ends in -d, -t, -m or -n an extra -e is added before the usual imperfect endings to make pronunciation easier.

Pronoun

Ending

Add to Stem, e.g. arbeit-

Meanings

ich

-ete

ich arbeitete

I workedI was working

du

-etest

du arbeitetest

you workedyou were working

ersiees

-ete

er arbeitetesie arbeitetees arbeitete

he/she/it workedhe/she/it was working

wir

-eten

wir arbeiteten

we workedwe were working

ihr

-etet

ihr arbeitetet

you (plural) workedyou were working

sie

Sie

-eten

-eten

sie arbeiteten

Sie arbeiteten

they workedthey were workingyou (polite) workedyou (polite) were working

Sie arbeitete übers Wochenende.

She was working over the weekend.

Ihr arbeitetet ganz schön viel.

You worked a lot.

If the -m or -n has one of the consonants l, r or h in front of it, the -e is not added as shown in the du, er, sie and es, and ihr forms below.

Pronoun

Ending

Add to Stem, e.g. lern-

Meanings

du

-test

du lerntest

you learnedyou were learning

ersiees

-te

er lerntesie lerntees lernte

he/she/it learnedhe/she/it was learning

ihr

-tet

ihr lerntet

you (plural) learnedyou were learning

Sie lernte alles ganz schnell.

She learned everything very quickly.

3Forming the imperfect tense of strong verbs

The main difference between strong verbs and weak verbs in the imperfect is that strong verbs have a vowel change and take a different set of endings. For example, let’s compare sagen and rufen:

Infinitive

Meaning

Present

Imperfect

Weak

sagen

to say

er sagt

er sagte

Strong

rufen

to shout

er ruft

er rief

To form the imperfect tense of strong verbs you add the following endings to the stem, which undergoes a vowel change.

Pronoun

Ending

Add to Stem, e.g. rief-

Meanings

ich

–

ich rief

I shoutedI was shouting

du

-st

du riefst

you shoutedyou were shouting

ersiees

–

er riefsie riefes rief

he/she/it shoutedhe/she/it was shouting

wir

-en

wir riefen

we shoutedwe were shouting

ihr

-t

ihr rieft

you (plural) shoutedyou were shouting

sie

Sie

-en

sie riefen

Sie riefen

they shoutedthey were shoutingyou (polite) shoutedyou were shouting

Sie rief mich immer freitags an.

She always called me on Friday.

Sie liefen die Straße entlang.

They ran along the street.

Als Kind sangst du viel.

You used to sing a lot as a child.

As in other tenses, the verb sein is a very irregular strong verb since the imperfect forms seem to have no relation to the infinitive form of the verb: ich war, du warst, er/sie/es war, wir waren, ihr wart, sie/Sie waren.

4Forming the imperfect tense of mixed verbs

The imperfect tense of mixed verbs is formed by adding the weak verb endings to a stem whose vowel has been changed as for a strong verb.

Pronoun

Ending

Add to Stem, e.g. kann-

Meanings

ich

-te

ich kannte

I knew

du

-test

du kanntest

you knew

ersiees

-te

er kanntesie kanntees kannte

he/she/it knew

wir

-ten

wir kannten

we knew

ihr

-tet

ihr kanntet

you (plural) knew

sie

Sie

-ten

sie kanntenSie kannten

they knew

you (polite) knew

Er kannte die Stadt nicht.

He didn’t know the town.

Bringen (meaning to bring) and denken (meaning to think) have a vowel AND a consonant change in their imperfect forms

bringen (to bring)

denken (to think)

ich brachte

ich dachte

du brachtest

du dachtest

er/sie/es brachte

er/sie/es dachte

wir brachten

wir dachten

ihr brachtet

ihr dachtet

sie/Sie brachten

sie/Sie dachten

Note that the imperfect tense of the most important strong, weak and mixed verbs is shown in the Verb Tables.

For Verb Tables, see supplement.

Key points

The imperfect tense is generally used for things that happened regularly or for descriptions in the past, especially in written German.

The imperfect of weak verbs is formed using the same stem of the verb as for the present tense + these endings: -te, -test, -te, -ten, -tet, -ten.

If the stem of a weak verb ends in -d, -t, -m or -n an extra -e is added before the usual imperfect endings to make pronunciation easier. If the -m or -n has one of the consonants l, r or h in front of it, the -e is not added.

The imperfect tense of strong verbs is formed by adding the following endings to the stem, which undergoes a vowel change: -, -st, -, -en, -t, -en.

The imperfect tense of mixed verbs is formed by adding the weak verb endings to a stem whose vowel has been changed as for a strong verb. The verbs bringen and denken also have a consonant change.